India gets professional out-of-court mediators

Chennai, Feb 19 (IANS) Chennai-based Indian Centre for Mediation and Dispute Resolution (ICMDR) has teamed up with the ADR Group of Britain and trained Indian lawyers in mediation under the aegis of the British Council. Under the British Council’s governance and social justice programme in India, 20 Indian lawyers have been trained in out-of-court dispute resolution and have been recognised as accredited civil and commercial mediators.

All successful participants were this weekend awarded the “ADR group Certificate of Accreditation”, which will enable them to practice as mediators in India and Britain.

Six among the 20 will now to undergo a “training of trainers” programme to further the training to target groups across India, the organisers said.

The ADR Group is a leading professional dispute resolution company in Britain. It works closely with leading British and international governments, the UK Civil Mediation Council, the Law Society of England and Wales and the British judiciary to encourage the use of “appropriate alternatives” to court-based litigation.

There are 25.9 million cases of litigation pending in courts across India, according the data released by the Supreme Court of India. Of these, 9.8 million cases are pending in the country’s high courts.

“The project is about partnership and mutuality, about sharing knowledge and expertise and about looking at innovative mechanisms of administration of justice”, Chris Gibson, director of south India at British Council, said on the occasion.

Noted lawyer and legal activist Sriram Panchu set up the ICMDR in 2001. It works with different organisations to spread awareness on mediation, trains mediators and offers consultancy on alternative dispute resolution to create a pool of professional mediators in India.

British Council is Britain’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations.